


The Art of Destruction

by butterflykisses



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Attempted Murder, Case Fic, Comfort, F/M, Fluffy, Murder, Mystery, Protective Sherlock, Relationship(s), Sherlock and Molly, Sherlock and emotions, Sherlolly - Freeform, detailed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2014-05-10
Packaged: 2018-01-23 19:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1576166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflykisses/pseuds/butterflykisses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim Moriarty has returned and this time with the help of his good friend Sebastian Moran.<br/>The last thing Sherlock remembers is being in the lab with Molly trying to get her to let him examine a corpse.<br/>When he awakes in a strange building with no one but Molly Hooper and no idea how he got there he has to piece together Moriarty's newest puzzle and work together with Molly to save their lives.<br/>But Moriarty and Moran have planned perfectly forcing Sherlock to come to terms with his emotions in order to solve the mystery.<br/>With his friends being threatened Sherlock has to do exactly what Moriarty wants, he has to give in to the emotions he's hidden so well and let Moriarty watch as he falls to pieces bit by bit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Threat

The shrill ringing in his ears wasn't nearly as bad as the pounding in his head, he felt like he'd been hit by a truck. Sherlock opened his eyes and attempted to look around but everything blurred around him making it hard to focus.

It was a good five minutes before his vision cleared and he could sit up without feeling lightheaded and nauseous, What had happened? He remembered standing in the doorway of the lab, Molly had been hunched over a table analyzing something. He approached her silently and when he'd spoken asking her to examine a body she had jumped in surprise knocking a beaker to the floor. He'd spent the next five minutes helping her clean up then asking her again to go the morgue, she'd told him she was busy so he'd complimented her hair.

His memory was blank after that, something had happened but he couldn't recall what. He took in his surroundings, he was in a simple room with no windows but very harsh lights that one might see in a hospital or school. Sherlock slowly got to his feet swaying with the dizziness that swept over him; he'd obviously been drugged, he couldn't tell how long he'd been out for but his guess was the better part of a day if not longer.

The room had a white tiled floor and smooth white walls, it was fairly large its only furnishings were the two armchairs in the corner and the table on the opposite wall. On the floor beside the table was Molly, she was asleep probably still under the effects of the drug; she was smaller than him and if she'd been given the same dosage then it would take her longer to recover.

Sherlock walked over to her anyway, she was still in her lab coat wearing black pants and a purple shirt beneath, Sherlock was also wearing the clothes he'd been wearing earlier; a suit and his coat. "Molly," He placed a hand on her shoulder she was warm but not feverish, he gave her a small nudge and repeated her name but she remained unresponsive and unconscious. He gave up trying to wake her she would come out of it eventually, he needed to figure out where they were. There was a door across the room Sherlock tried to open it but found it was locked, after several minutes of trying to kick it in he shouted in frustration and marched back to the center of the room to think.

"That was quite the tantrum," A sickeningly familiar voice flowed from the speaker in the ceiling above. 

Sherlock looked up at it in anger and disgust, "I should have known it was you." He sneered wishing Moriarty was in the room so he could give him what he deserved.

"I'm surprised it didn't dawn on you the moment you woke up, you're slipping." The cool voice continued evenly.

"Never," Sherlock replied, "why are we here? What's your plan this time?" He threw his arms up gesturing to the room around him, he knew Moriarty could see him.

"In the past all my plans have had you running around London trying to save people you've never met from being blown up or running around trying to avoid the police and jumping off buildings, I've gotten bored watching you be the hero you never wanted to be. I have a new game now thanks to my new friend." Sherlock didn't bother asking who that was, he knew he wouldn't get an answer. "Originally I was only going to take you but then I saw you with Molly and it was the perfect opportunity to really get into your head." A laugh came from above, Sherlock rolled his eyes and waited for Moriarty to continue. "So here's the plan, you and Molly have this whole building to yourselves I'll let you figure out exactly where you are, you'll be brought food, water and clothes but getting out of here is your problem. Solve the puzzle Sherlock and you're free, you'll find little clues around here every now and then, I want to see you try and save someone you know, I want see you save yourself."

"What if I find a way out of here?" Sherlock questioned.

"That's highly unlikely but if you and Miss Hooper do find yourselves out before you solve the puzzle then I'll shoot everyone you care about before you get a block away, and when I say everyone I mean  _everyone_."

"Have fun Sherlock, I think it's time I truly destroy you for good this time." There was click and Moriarty was gone, a few seconds later there was a buzz and the door was unlocked. 

Sherlock looked at Molly she was beginning to wake up her arm moving as she tried to orientate herself. Sherlock sighed, he could investigate later right now he needed to help Molly.

Like him it took her several minutes to fully come to, "What the hell?" She muttered looking around and rubbing her head. 

"I don't know where we are," He told her helping her sit up before releasing her and standing. 

"How did we get here?" She asked quietly her words slurred together slightly.

Sherlock waited until she got to her feet before speaking, "We were drugged by Moriarty when we were in the lab and brought here, I've already spoken with him and it looks like we'll be here for awhile." 

He turned away from her and walked to the door, it swung open easily this time revealing a long white hallway. "I'm going to go look around, stay here until your head feels better I'll be back." She'd barely nodded before he walked down the hall letting the door close behind him with a clang.


	2. A Bedtime Story

Molly as sitting in one of the armchairs, her mind was racing she didn't know how to cope. The room she was in was cool the heating was either off or on a low setting because she had to wrap her lab coat tightly around herself to stay warm. 

Sherlock had been gone for nearly an hour when the door flew open and he marched back in, he was furious; she could she that in the way he was walking and trying not to punch a wall. He had every right to be angry they were stuck in a strange place by a crazy man for who knows how long, anyone would be driven out of their mind in their situation.

"It's an old school," He announced sitting in the chair opposite of her, "it's quite large with several old classrooms that have been converted into bedrooms and sitting rooms there's even a kitchen in one of the old staff rooms but it's highly lacking in food and beverages." He shifted restlessly in his chair working the muscles in his jaw angrily.

"This isn't right, he can't just keep us here can he? I mean they'll realize we're gone and put two and two together, John will find us won't he?" She was trying hard to keep her voice from wavering but that was hard she just wanted to fall to the floor and cry for hours.

Sherlock shook his head, "They'll realize we're gone but not one of them not even Mycroft will be able to find us, all the windows are filled in and blocked but I doubt we're even in London anymore; we could be halfway around the world for all I know." He slipped a hand into his hair and sighed Molly could tell he wanted nothing more than to leave.

"I'm sorry Sherlock," She said the only thing she could think of, "I know you don't want to be here especially not with me but there's not much we can do about it, Moriarty doesn't want to kill you so what does he want?"

The way Sherlock looked at her was so familiar it sent a pang through her chest, it was the same looked he'd given her when she'd told him she didn't count. It disappeared quickly and he took a sharp breath, "Moriarty told me he wants to play a game, I have to solve his  _puzzle_ and then he'll release us."

"That sounds too easy," She pointed out.

Sherlock nodded, "That's what I thought, I have a feeling someone will die and the chances are it will be someone outside this building, John, Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade, who knows. He definitely has a plan and there won't be an easy conclusion." They fell into silence for a long moment.

The quiet was interrupted by a loud dinging noise that vibrated through the walls and floors sounding suspiciously like a doorbell. "What was that?" Molly asked jumping to her feet.

Sherlock stood, "That was our first delivery, most likely food, water, clothes, and our first clue." She followed him out the door and down the plain white hall. white seemed to be everywhere in the building, it covered every wall, ceiling, and floor, all illuminated by the same bright lighting. 

The school was fairly large as Sherlock had pointed out, the front doors were heavily chained and painted a navy blue the windows were covered in sheets of metal screwed into the doors. On the floor in front of the door was a large picnic basket, Molly stood back as Sherlock slowly approached in and kicked it open. Inside were changes of clothes for both of them four water bottles and a bag of groceries that would make enough meals for two days, Sherlock laid all these items on the floor before taking out two more objects. One was an old doll wearing a blue dress with blond hair to its waist in ringlets. Molly gasped when she saw it and a hand gripped her heart squeezing tightly.

Sherlock saw her expression and handed the doll to her she took it gratefully and hugged it to her chest, he turned his attention to the other object. It was a silver voice recorder he stood up and looked at Molly before pressing play.

"Hello again," Moriarty's voice played it was recorded so neither of them replied. "Now that both of you are up to speed with what's happening let me explain level one of my little game; the first piece in the puzzle. As you can see Molly I have retrieved something very important from your past; don't worry Sherlock your turn will come but for now it's lovely Molly's turn. Molly you are going to tell Sherlock the story behind that doll and tomorrow Sherlock will tell you the story behind whatever item of his I send, both stories will have a common factor and that will be the first part of my game, in two days you'll move on to level two. Anyway when you're done playing this put the recorder back in the basket and it will be collected, have fun and get ready for part two of level one tomorrow."

There was a click and the recorder shut off, Sherlock dropped it into the basket and the proceeded to kick the basket into the door with a shout. Molly was still standing there staring at the doll in her hands, "I don't know where he got this," she said to herself she hadn't seen the doll in years.

"Let's go," Sherlock said frigidly leading her back up the stairs, they didn't return to that horrible room instead he walked onto one of the sitting rooms. Molly smiled a bit as they entered, it was much more furnished there was even a carpet laid on the floor. There were several couches and arm chairs decorated with pillows and the odd blanket, bookcases had been pushed against the walls and were filled with hundreds of books from fiction novels to non-fiction textbooks. "I suppose there's some deeply sentimental story behind that doll?" He nodded to the object in her hands.

Molly nodded and curled up on one of the couches wrapping a blanket around herself, "I guess I have to tell you right?"

He sat on the couch across from her, "It would seem so." He placed his hands together and looked at her obviously listening.

She took a deep breath, "Alright then, I've told you about my dad before he was lovely, when I was young he would leave a lot to take my brothers camping and fishing; usually when the boys left my aunt would come and we'd have a girl's weekend just me, her, and my mum. When I was eleven she brought me this doll from a trip in France, I thought she went to France to have a vacation," Molly shook her head and took a shaky breath. "She was going to escape my uncle, he used to beat her; those trips were her freedom, that and coming to visit me." Tears were streaming down her face now she couldn't hold them in even if she tried.

"Molly," Sherlock said she knew he was trying to tell her she didn't have to continue if she didn't want to. 

She nodded and forced a smile through her tears determined to continue, "The day she gave this to me something was wrong, we all knew it I heard my mum on the phone with dad that night after Auntie had gone to bed, she told him that she wasn't okay that he needed to come home because there was something wrong with Auntie." She wiped her eyes on her sleeve smearing the white of her lab coat with the black of her mascara. "I remember being in my room laying in my bed looking up at the ceiling when my dad and my brothers got home; it was very early in the morning. I heard my parents tell my brothers to go to their rooms to bed, they waited an hour until they were sure the boys had fallen asleep before they came upstairs. My mum opened my bedroom door to make sure I was asleep, I had closed my eyes and laid still so she would leave. The crying started a few minutes later, I didn't know why mum was crying until the next morning. My aunt had tried to get out of the house without us knowing, she'd overheard the phone call like I had and wanted to leave before my dad could get home. It had been raining all day and she'd been walking along the roof and slipped," Molly squeezed her eyes shut she was trying not to picture it. "There was nothing to break her fall she just...hit the ground and no one even heard it. I believed that story for years, this doll was my only reminder of her; she tried so hard to make everyone happy even though she was so unhappy herself."

Sherlock 's expression hadn't changed his face was even; expressionless. "When I was sixteen my dad told me the real story, it had been raining but our roof was flat she couldn't have slipped, she jumped off that roof, she didn't care about what that would do us she just jumped. I was an eleven year old kid and my aunt jumped from the roof right above my room, what if I'd seen her? What child can cope with watching someone they love jump off a roof?" She was quiet for a moment while she collected her thoughts, "I lost all the respect I had for my aunt after that, I took this doll and donated it to charity it hurt me to look at it, I regretted it years later when I finally understood what it felt like to be so depressed you have nothing to live for." She set the doll on the couch beside her and rubbed her eyes tiredly, "I guess Moriarty thought it would be nice for me to have it back."

Sherlock was quiet for a long time he just watched her with his hands clasped and his eyes focused, she sighed and gave a slight chuckle; a breathy laugh. "You don't have to say anything Sherlock, in fact I think I might go find a bedroom to crash in." she wiped the last of her tears from her eyes and stood up wearing the blanket like a cape.

"Molly," He said when she was almost to the door, she looked over her shoulder and he continued. "I didn't know about that, it's horrible; I''m sorry." She could tell he was being sincere.

"I don't tell anyone about it," She explained before continuing walking. "Thank you." She added before she walked down the hall to find a bed for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally had time to write this! I know what I'm going to do with this now so I'm pretty happy, tell me your thoughts and stuff and I'll try my hardest to update soon.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first thing I've written on here, it's just an idea I had and I'm not sure how long it will get. I have a general idea of what I want to do with it so stay tuned and hopefully I'll be productive and update soon!


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